terminal illness

Most of the secrets inked onto Andrew Henderson's body weren't even his own

(Newser) -
Andrew Henderson knew he didn't have long to live due to his lymphoblastic lymphoma, which doctors told him was incurable. And so he held a "living funeral" last weekend, per the CBC , and the "Taking It to the Grave" event was a testament to the "ebullient...
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Dalton Prager was 25; wife Katie is in hospice

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They've been likened to the fictional couple battling cancer in The Fault in Our Stars , and there will be no fairy tale ending for Dalton and Katie Prager. Instead of cancer, each had cystic fibrosis, and after striking up an online relationship seven years ago, they met in person...
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'I hope that my story will inspire others'

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Over seven years, Virginia's Beth Prever raised $800,000 for ALS research because she "felt like having ALS would be a worst-case scenario diagnosis. It's like living in a glass coffin—your mind is intact, but your body is failing," she tells People . She now understands...
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Jerika Bolen is going to prom before putting an end to the pain from her incurable illness

(Newser) -
Jerika Bolen wakes up every morning with another day ahead of her hooked up to a ventilator and wracked by terrible pain, caused by an incurable illness that usually kills its sufferers when they're in their teens. But the purple-haired 14-year-old from Appleton, Wis., has decided to wrest control...
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Girl with terminal illness wanted to spend final days at home, not in a medical facility

(Newser) -
It started with a conversation last year that Michelle Moon had with her terminally ill daughter, Julianna, about where she'd want to be if she got sick again: in the hospital or at home. Julianna picked home , even if it meant she'd die there, and that's where...
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Daniel Fleetwood died of a rare cancer after private viewing of 'The Force Awakens'

(Newser) -
Daniel Fleetwood, the Star Wars superfan with a terminal illness whose wish to see an advance screening of The Force Awakens came true last week, has died at the age of 32, Mashable reports. His wife, Ashley Fleetwood, announced the Texas man's death with a Facebook post early Tuesday,...
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Her parents say they will honor her choice

(Newser) -
Michelle Moon has had some wrenching conversations with her daughter, Julianna Snow, who, at just 5 years old, is dying of an incurable disease. She's endured painful procedures and numerous hospitalizations during her battle with Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a neurodegenerative illness that has robbed her of the ability to walk, eat...
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And it's pouring in for 8-year-old Bubby Everson

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Bubby Everson is an 8-year-old boy with a simple birthday dream: to receive mail. He loves getting cards and especially stickers, which he'll play with and "put all over the place," his dad, Thomas Everson, tells Q13 Fox . His parents are asking people to send Bubby mail...
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In new video, she explains she'll take her life when it feels right

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When Sunday rolls around, Brittany Maynard could still be alive. The terminally ill 29-year-old, who has grabbed headlines in the last month over her decision to take medication to end her life on Saturday, has released a new six-minute video that explains she still plans to do so—but indicates...
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Medical examiner hasn't ruled on official cause of death yet

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Authorities in Ohio are trying to figure out whether a Florida man acted out of compassion, rage, or drunken recklessness when he allegedly tried to suffocate his 86-year-old terminally ill father in a Brecksville nursing home. Staff members at the facility say they walked in on an "intoxicated" Steven...
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Port Clinton made sure dying Devin Kohlman got his own holiday

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A boy whose last wish was to be home for Christmas has died, two weeks after his hometown welcomed him with a festive tree outside his window and a motorcycle-riding Santa Claus. Doctors had told the family of 13-year-old Devin Kohlman that he didn't have long to live so...
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Third state in US to do so

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Vermont has passed a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide, and with Gov. Peter Shumlin's signature expected this week, will become the nation's third state to allow it. Under the new law, people over 18 with an "incurable and irreversible disease" and less than six months left to live...
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JJ Abrams sends rough cut of sequel to cancer patient

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A Star Trek fan with just days to live got to watch a rough cut of upcoming sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness after a plea on social media reached director JJ Abrams. The film won't be released until May, but Abrams and producer Damon Lindelof arranged for a copy...
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Estate planners stole their identities, took out 'death-put' bonds on them

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Two men accused of stealing the identities of terminally ill people to reap $30 million from insurance companies and brokerage houses pleaded guilty midway through their trial today, and face prison sentences of up to 10 years each. Joseph Caramadre, 50, CEO of Estate Planning Resources in Rhode Island, and...
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Doctors exploring psychedelics for trauma, addiction, depression

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Psychedelic drugs, once the domain of the free-lovin' hippies of the '60s, are coming under the microscope of very serious scientists of the current decade. A number of studies show that psilocybin, MDMA, and other psychedelics can ease a range of traumas and afflictions including headaches, PTSD, addiction, and...
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Emily Rapp offers a heartbreaking 'New York Times' essay

(Newser) -
Parenting advice is strictly forward-focused: Is breastfeeding better for development? Which is the best preschool to ensure a bright future? Like so many other mothers-to-be, Emily Rapp considered those and other similar questions before giving birth to her son Ronan. Then she discovered that Ronan, now 18 months, has the...
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Al-Megrahi says he only has 'days, weeks, months' to live

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From a bed at his Tripoli home, a frail-looking Abdel Basset al-Megrahi insisted to Reuters that his role in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing was smaller than people think. "The West exaggerated my name. Please leave me alone. I only have a few more days, weeks, or months" to live,...
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Cancer has spread to liver; she's home with family, friends

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Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has spread to her liver, leading doctors to advise her that further treatment would be "unproductive," and give her a prognosis of weeks, or perhaps days, to live. "She is resting at home with family and friends," the Edwards family said in a...
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It's been a year since controversial release

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It's been a year since Scotland made the staggering decision to free the man convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 and 270 souls over Lockerbie, and the US has a little anniversary message: Put him back in jail. White House counterterror chief John Brennan told Scottish officials that...
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(Newser) -
Washington State’s Death with Dignity medical suicide law was enacted a year ago today, and in the first 9 months 63 terminally ill patients were prescribed fatal medication and 36 used it to end their lives. Three people attempted to use the drugs but failed; one vomited them back...
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